Make it last forever,
friendship never ends...
It’s
so true. I made my way up to Manchester to meet my childhood best friend (of
nearly 27 years), Gemma, to see our favourite childhood band, the Spice Girls.
Ever since I secured tickets for Manchester the morning they went on sale, I
had been excited. The months leading up to it went by so fast and the weekend
itself was over too fast, let alone the evening! It’s fair to say we were
livin’ our best lives in our matching Scary tees... Boohoo must have made a
killing, as there were plenty of people in the same one as us!
The
last time I was in Manchester, it was October 2005 and I was at City’s rival’s
ground, Old Trafford, watching Barnet play in the League Cup with my family. We
didn’t really go into the city centre then, but it was all very different from
what I could remember. After making our way to our hotel in Deansgate to dump
the bags and get changed, it was back on the tram to Piccadilly Gardens for
some food, bevies and then to get another tram to the Etihad Campus.
Everywhere
was packed beforehand; I believe there was another concert at the Theatre of
Dreams. But the majority were going to the Spice Girls. People of all ages too
– early 20s, our age, some with kids, and we even clocked a woman in a ‘Nana
Spice’ tee. There was such a good atmosphere in the city itself and en route to
the Etihad.
Once
we arrived, there were plenty of stalls and stands selling food, drinks and
merchandise. We bought programmes (£20) and a round of rosé champagne (£16.50),
before Gemma bought the next round of Red Berry Bulmers (£5.50). We had plenty
of time to kill before Jess Glynne took to the stage at 7:15pm.
Now
I really didn’t know what to expect, because I don’t really listen to her
music. But of her set of 10 songs, I knew six of them – so I was pretty pleased
with that and impressed with myself. She’s actually pretty good live and built
up a good rapport with the crowd. When I found out originally she was
supporting the Spice Girls, I did wonder who else would be a better option –
but I was pleasantly surprised and I can’t believe I’d never heard of Thursday before, it’s such a beautiful
song. You can find her set-list, here. There was an interval before the Spice
Girls were on stage at 8:30pm and it was just enough time to go downstairs and
get a summer berry cocktail, which was so lush – but went down too easily!
Spice up your Life was the opener and what an
opener – it certainly set the tone for the evening! Even though we were up in
the gods, literally three rows from the back, the view was great and there were
two large flat screens so we could see a lot more clearly. There were apparent
sound issues in Dublin and Cardiff but no such problems here! We had bought
seated tickets but obviously, everyone stood – dancing to the high-paced
numbers and swaying to the slower songs... it was just unreal! If u can’t dance and Who do you think you are? followed and
the best thing about the set was that it was split into sections, with little
interludes between. One saw the Spice Boys take to the stage, while another saw
the girls reminiscing... Sporty even mentioned the Champions League final,
which I’d totally forgotten about (but also good to hear Spurs losing!). It
broke it up from the music and there were some great montages on the screens.
One
thing I will say is that did you even go to the Spice Girls concert if you
didn’t get emotional during Goodbye or
Viva Forever?! They certainly saved
the best ‘til last though with Stop, Mama and Wannabe the final three songs. And just like that, the night was
over! I’m so glad to say I’ve been able to experience it though, ‘90s Luce was
loving it. I never got to see them before, although Gemma had seen them at
Wembley back in the day. You can find their set-list online, too.
Oh
and in case you were wondering, it took us ages to leave the stadium and get
the tram back. I think we made it back to our hotel just before midnight. We
had planned on getting changed and going back out, but thought against it and a
bottle of water and bag of crisps in bed was much more appealing! The best
thing was the monster lie-in we got the following morning... I honestly don’t
know the last time I had an undisturbed sleep or woke up at 10:40am – it was
bliss!
And
because I began with a lyric, I feel like I should end with one too...
¡Hasta mañana*! Always be
mine...
Love,
Lucy
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Love, Lucy xx